


Combinations

by ottermo



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Friendship, Multi, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-18 11:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3567962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This group of dorks is bound together by friendships old and new, from besties to barely-speaking, from first kisses to last goodbyes.<br/>Next up: Wick's got an idea, and Lincoln can't remember exactly why he agreed to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finn & Maya: Threat

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little experiment to keep me going over the hiatus:
> 
> Each chapter will take a pair of characters and a randomly-generated prompt title (using a handy feature at ShortStoryIdeas.herb.me.uk) – and just run with them. 
> 
> I’ve hand-picked 13 characters from the show and also 3 who appear in Kass Morgan’s trilogy (because I ship Wells/Happiness and that means Glass and Sasha, okay.) The stories will all be set in the same modern AU and will probably follow on from one another somewhat, but can also be read in isolation. 
> 
> Aaaaanyway, today’s pairing is Finn and Maya, and their prompt word: threat….

 

Maya hadn't really needed somebody to drive her.

Most people just assume she can't, but Finn happens to know that the car she and her sister share has specially adapted hand controls in addition to the foot pedals, and he's seen her drive it, with the same kind of quiet determination that characterises everything she does (she's a pro at parallel parking and you'd better not get in her way while she's proving that).

Even if Sasha had been using the car, Finn can think of at least six people Maya would ask to take her Valentine's Day shopping before resorting to _him_.... And so the only explanation he can think of is that she's got some kind of ulterior motive for wanting to see him alone.

So far, though, there has been no mention of it. And to be honest, he's kind of glad to have the distraction. Tomorrow is going to be his first Valentine's Day _ever_ without Raven, and not so long ago he'd just assumed he was going to spend it with Clarke. But he'd messed up severely with both of them (and if he could think of a stronger word than _severely_ he'd use it) so he'd be spending tomorrow evening sitting alone with a drink and the TV, and coming out with Maya today at least means he's not doing that two nights in a row. Even if navigating through the crush of people who'd all decided to go last-minute present-hunting is less than relaxing.

Maya heads for Kandy's, the huge department store that opened a few weeks ago. Finn's had no reason to go in there until now, which is nice in that it means there aren't any Clarke-memories attached to it. There's one of those chirpy little signs showing which floor everything's on, and Maya jabs a finger at "Gifts" - second floor.

The stairs and the elevator are side by side, and Finn goes to press the button, but Maya catches his arm and looks up at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Race?"

Finn grins. "It's _on_."

He waits at the bottom of the staircase until the elevator door opens, as per the rules of Vertical Derby. Then he's off, dashing up the stairs as fast as he can, two at a time, dodging the other bemused shoppers who frown at him disapprovingly.

He reaches the first floor in good time, and turns the corner sharply, stubbing his toe on the first step of the second flight. He curses under his breath and begins the next sprint, only to see Maya rolling victoriously out of the elevator before he's hit the top stair.

"Better luck next time," she says cheerily.

Finn mock-pouts. "I stubbed my toe, I call handicap."

For a terrifying second she just stares at him and he worries the joke was too much, but then she cracks up, and he's so relieved he starts laughing too.

"Just messing with you," she says, still giggling, "Your face!" When she finally catches her breath, she adds, "But no, you're right, poor baby. I won't count that as a win. It must be awful to have legs that can walk you into walls."

He grins. "It so is. Right, where should we start?"

Maya swivels toward an aisle laden with red hearts and pink fluffy items, "Over there looks pretty Valentines-y."

They make their way over, people hopping immediately out of the way to let Maya pass. She thanks them in turn, though Finn gets the feeling she'd rather they just let her wait a second like everyone else in the busy store.

She begins to sort through the items on the shelf that's level with her face, and picks up two cups with 'his' and 'hers' on, then sets them back down. "Those are kinda cute, but Jasper already has that mug Monty got him that's his favourite, he'd never use it. What are those red things by you?"

Finn passes her down one of the red cushions on the shelf above, far out of her reach. Maybe this is why she'd needed a shopping partner after all, he feels a bit of an idiot for not having thought of it. The cushion is garish and fluffy and the words BEST BOYFRIEND EVER are picked out in white stitching.

"Thanks," Maya looks it over, and giggles. "I can see this on Jasper and Monty's couch, can't you?" She hands it back to him, and he goes to return it to the shelf. "Wait, wait, I meant for you to carry it for me, not put it back."

Finn quirks an eyebrow up. "Really?"

She nods, "Yeah, Jasper's a giant goofball, he'll love it."

Finn continues to look uncomfortable holding the offending item.

"I hate to state the obvious, Finn, but my arms are a little busy," Maya said, grinning, as she wheeled herself a little further down the aisle. "I hired you to be the muscle. Just carry it."

He sighs, and stuffs the cushion under his arm. "Okay."

She glares at him. "Finn Collins, I _dare_ you, okay? I _dare_ you to tell me you don't want to carry it because 'it'll look a little gay'." Her eyes are narrowed with the challenge, and he shakes his head vigorously.

"No, no! It's fine." He takes it out from under his arm. "I'm fine with this." He pauses. "I don't think it looks a 'little' gay, it's a 'lot' gay. But that's cool!" he hurriedly adds when the deadly eyebrows furrow again.

She lets him keep it for a few more aisles, then puts him out of his misery. "Go on, then, give it here," she says, making a show of her reluctance, then winks at him. "But you know what that means."

Finn chuckles and takes his place behind her to begin pushing. It's actually kind of useful to be out of sight, where she can't see the slow deterioration of his mood - all the love-emblazoned trinkets are reminding him of his own stupid mistakes, try as he might to put Clarke (and Raven) out of his mind. When Maya asks him to stop while she looks at an aisle filled with music devices - she wants to get Jasper a nice set of headphones to replace the worn-out ones he's had since forever - Finn takes his cell out of his pocket and casually scrolls through his messages until he finds Clarke's name. The last message she'd sent is a 'You're welcome', after he'd thanked her for asking how he was feeling after he'd come home from hospital. Legionnaire's Disease hadn't been bucketloads of fun, but in a way he had the septic shock to thank for the fact that Raven and Clarke, both convinced he was going to die and realising they still cared about him at least a little, had made amends with each other and even decided not to cut him out of their lives entirely. Not that things would ever be the way they were before, but at least he could still hang out with the group and not feel like public enemy number one. Besides, it was Jasper visiting him in hospital that had led him to meeting Maya in the first place, so as lung infections went, it could have been worse.

That's little comfort today, though, as Finn stands near a jewellery display that has a necklace that would bring out Clarke's blue eyes perfectly. He almost picks it up, but resists the urge and flicks his attention back to his phone screen. Maybe he could just text her…?

Maya, a pair of electric blue headphones in hand, clears her throat loudly and he looks up. "Don't do it, Finn."

He tries to look innocent. "Do what?"

She shakes her head, "Don't play dumb. That's a thinking-about-Clarke face and you know it, and I'm telling you, don't. Put your phone away."

For a moment the outburst goes unchecked: "Why shouldn't I! Can't I just try? Why is everyone so dead set against the idea of her ever forgiving me?"

Maya calmly waits for him to finish. "Finn, are you and I friends?"

He's taken aback by the question at first. Are they? It's not as if he has a list of friends and acquaintances, but this is the first time he's spent time alone with her, and possibly the only time he's seen her without a Jasper by her side. But she's fun and she calls him out when he needs to be called, so he goes with: "I guess?"

She nods. "Okay. If we're friends, then I'm going to tell you this straight: you're kind of a tool." He doesn't flinch, he's heard worse, thought worse, had worse shouted at him from an upstairs window at three am. It's only the truth, after all. "I'm not gonna go right ahead and say Clarke will never forgive you, because that's Clarke's business and Clarke's choice, but I swear," she swivels the chair until she's facing him, and she looks pretty daunting even with a fluffy heart-shaped pillow on her lap, "I swear, if you text her right now when she's alone and miserable the night before Valentine's in the hope that that'll make her more likely to do something she'll regret, if you do that, then friends or not, I will run. you. down."

It's no idle threat. She could actually do it, and in that moment he almost believes she _would_. He takes a tiny step back almost involuntarily, eyeing her wheels like they've got blades attached. "Got it."

Her face softens a little. "I know it isn't the greatest fun for you either, but just let her make the first move if and when she's ready, hmm?"

He's disappointed by how little he believes that that will ever happen, and he knows that makes him even more of a tool for being about to text her tonight. "You're right." He pauses, then gives her the tiniest of smiles, "Please don't run me over."

Maya gives him a sweet grin. "Who, me?"

He declines a second round of Vertical Derby, pointing out that carrying the cushion would slow either of them down. They ride the elevator together, and stop for bad coffee in a fast-food restaurant before he drives her home.

He doesn't text Clarke that night, or the next. Maya's right, and he hopes she'll be around to threaten him the next time he feels like doing something dumb.

He hopes Jasper likes his cushion, and that he knows he's pretty damned lucky to have her.

 

 

 


	2. Lincoln & Wick: Bang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this title could have gone one of two very different ways...  
> This is a mess, but I had fun with it! Oh, and it looks like I changed tenses from last chapter. Forgive me. This is just a hiatus distraction, after all...

There are side effects to being the longest-standing couple out of everyone you know.

Lincoln has been learning this in stages for the last three years. First of all it was teasing about having "settled" - then, during his second tour, he had become the resident Agony Aunt for the guys in his barracks, helping to redraft their letters to their girlfriends and plan phone calls because he'd "got it figured out", apparently. Now, back home, he and Octavia are everyone's top choice to double date with, because - in Raven's words - "none of the crap the rest of us pull is going to ruin things for you two, and that's beautiful".

Octavia had punched her friend in the arm, but Lincoln had kind of liked the thought of that. That people viewed them as a constant, something you could count on. When he had first started dating Octavia, he'd been very much an outsider, but now he was so fully assimilated into the group that he really did consider them his own friends, not just hers. Apart from a flying visit to family, he spent most of his time on leave among them - and he'd got incredibly lucky this time: the two week period that kicked off with Valentine's Day was his to enjoy.

He had not really been expecting to be enlisted into one of Raven's new boyfriend's Schemes on his very first day back.

He'd met Wick on his last leave, when he and Raven had only just gotten together. Wick seemed a fairly nice guy - cocky, but in a charming kind of way, clearly enough of a brainiac to give Raven a run for her money, and, Lincoln suspected, actually pretty caring underneath the bravado. Lincoln was careful never to let Raven know it, but he'd worried about her along with the rest of the group after the Great Finn Debacle, and he was glad she'd found someone who seemed to genuinely care about her.

Even if he did have some strange ideas.

"It's going to be perfect. Not to mention hilarious," the younger man had assured Lincoln, after explaining the plan. "But I could really use an extra pair of hands." 

Lincoln frowned, considering. "And you really have to do it at _night_? Why not just wait until she goes to work?" 

Wick waved his hand dismissively. "Everyone expects romance shmomance on Valentine's, everyone goes out some place fancy for the evening, everyone exchanges heart chocolates and whatever else. Not everyone wakes up to see a prank Valentine's Day Treehouse in their backyard. Raven'll appreciate the effort, once she washes the slime out of her hair. And since Octavia's room has a backward facing window too, she'll see it as well, so it'll be for both of them, from both of us."

Lincoln found himself warming to the preposterous idea precisely because it _was_ so preposterous. "Okay, okay. Tree house. In the night. Romantic gesture undercut by booby traps, I get it. But, uh... Won't this involve a lot of sawing wood and whatnot? In the middle of the night?"

Wick arched his eyebrows. "You underestimate my carpentry prowess, my friend." He patted the side of his battered pickup truck, which Lincoln could barely believe was roadworthy. "All the pieces are already cut up and stacked in here. Our job is just to climb the tree, slot them together like an IKEA flat pack, only without seventeen pages of unhelpful diagrams, and then place a few choice prank items inside - and we're done." 

Lincoln grinned. "You've really thought this through."

Wick tapped his head and winked. "Well, I am a child prodigy after all. And I may or may not have been motivated by Raven betting me on who could surprise who more on the nearest dumb holiday." He ran a finger along the doorframe of the truck. "She keeps saying 'just you wait' and referring to all the planning time she has, so I think she's thinking of April Fool's, and just forgot Valentine's existed."

"That," Lincoln said slowly, "Or she just doesn't think Valentine's is dumb." He quickly ran some timelines through his head. "I think this is going to be her first one since Finn."

Wick's face fell. "Ah."

"But it's a really good idea," Lincoln said, lamely. "I mean, it doesn't have to be about the surprise bet, does it? You can still do the tree house thing, she'll love it."

Wick wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, but if I did it for real, un-booby-trapped, she'd think it was about feelings and stuff."

Lincoln almost laughed. If Wick thought his 'feelings and stuff' weren't obvious for all to see, he was kidding only himself. Lincoln had spent an hour with the guy, and could already see the signs. "Right."

"What?" Wick was looking at him quizzically. 

"Nothing. So are we doing this?" Lincoln looked at his watch, which told him it was half past ten. "Octavia's usually asleep by eleven if she's not still out. She pretends like she stays up all hours but it's a lie." He chuckled slightly at the thought of her sleepy smiles over Skype, and the amount of times he'd had to text Raven to ask her to take the laptop away from O before she fell asleep onto the keyboard. His little firecracker (a nickname she loathed, so he had stopped using it....in front of her) could be fierce and stubborn and unendingly strong...but she was unfairly adorable when she was tired and far away.

Wick sighed. "I guess it's a waste of good timber if we don't use it. You want to say it's for Octavia? You guys are pretty solid. It wouldn't be weird coming from you."

"Nah, from both of us, for both of them. Raven won't freak out, she's pretty chill. And remember, you were a child prodigy. She's not going to think you put your heart and soul into thinking it out. It was easy, right?" Lincoln grinned to dispel the challenging tone in his voice. This was going to be pretty fun, after all.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, armed with torches and unwieldy pieces of wood, the two of them crept through the side entrance of the house Octavia and Raven shared. It had once been Octavia's mother's, but now that Raven helped pay for its upkeep and Bellamy lived in apartment of his own, it had basically become jointly theirs. Thankfully, Lincoln had a key. It was beginning to become clear to him why Wick had chosen him for the position of helper. 

"Right, you want to shin up first or shall I?" Wick said in a hushed voice. "Careful," he said, as Lincoln narrowly missed hitting the panel he was holding against the rusty old lawnmower that was languishing under the oak tree.

"I'll go," Lincoln said, taking the large coil of rope from Wick. He scrambled up the wrinkled trunk with ease. A childhood spent in a forest-y area and a year spent creeping into Octavia's upstairs bedroom from the outside were both to thank for his familiarity with the climb. Big Brother Bellamy's initial hostility toward him was finally reaping benefits.

Once nestled between the upper branches, he swung the rope over the nearest one and lowered it down. Wick fixed the first board onto the end and climbed partway himself to ensure it reached its destination. That done, they started on the wall panels.

"How did you cut these to fit the exact tree?" Lincoln asked softly, but with awe.

Wick grinned up at him, and his teeth flashed in the darkness. "I may have spent a day studying it while Raven thought I was listening to her spouting mechanics factoids. Or maybe I'm just brilliant?" 

Lincoln reached down to help the next panel on its journey. Sure enough, the pieces slotted into to one another securely, like a massive version of a child's dolls' house. "Okay," he called down, still keeping his voice at top-secret-mission levels of volume, "You want to swap places? I think I've got it all in the right place, but it's your baby."

On Wick's agreement, Lincoln began to climb back down the tree, then jumped from a metre or so above the ground, landing with a soft thud. "Shussssh," Wick said, overdramatically. 

As Wick started to climb up, Lincoln found himself gazing at Octavia's bedroom window. He had planned out a fairly decent Valentine's evening - a booking at her favorite restaurant followed by an open-air cinema trip where they just happened to be playing one of her beloved action movies, in defiance of romantic tradition. The tree house would make a nice early start to be proceedings.

Lost in thought, he wasn't terribly aware of what he was supposed to be doing, and the knot he used to tie the last remaining panel onto the end of the rope left much to be desired. With an almighty bang, the panel hit the ancient lawnmower on its way back down to earth, and somewhere a few houses over, a dog started barking in reply. 

Lincoln heard Wick swear in an undertone, though he might as well have shouted it for all the good being quiet had done them. Hastily Lincoln reaffixed the panel and sent it up, meaning that by the time Raven came to her window to see what the noise had been, the treehouse was, at least, complete.

To Lincoln's relief, Wick decided to own the discovery. "Surprise!" he called to Raven. 

And even in the darkness, from two floors below, Lincoln could see her smiling a smile that made Wick's 'feelings and stuff' look pretty damn well reciprocated.

 


End file.
